Adjustable caps and like structures



Jan. 20, 1959 L. SCHERZ ADJUSTABLE CAPS AND LIKE STRUCTURES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS ADJUSTABLE CAPS AND LIKE STRUCTURES Louis Scherz, Wiikes-Barre, 'Pa., assignor to The American Pad & Textile (30., Greenfieid, Ohio, a corporation of Uhio Application April 27, 1955, Serial No. 564,247

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-197) This invention relates to headgear such as cap and hats, with provision of means whereby the same can be adjusted to the wearers headsize.

An object of the invention is the provision of a cap or like structure including a crown of flexible material and having a slit with a concealing flap, and parts providing a peripheral band which can be adjusted and fixed in length.

Another object is the provision of such a cap or the like, in which the peripheral band includes slidable interengaging parts adaptable to various lengths, and the flap cooperates therewith for fixing the adjusted length.

A further object is the provision of a cap or like structure in which the crown has a slit, and a flap is included for preventing a gap at the slit, and the flap has parts cooperating with other cap parts for fixing the exposed area of the flap and therewith the adjusted size ,of the device.

With these and other objects in view, as will appear in the course of the following description and claims, illustrative forms of practice of the invention are shown on the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top view of a cap embodying the invennon.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view, taken in section substantially on line "2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is' a view corresponding to Fig. 2, but with the sweat band and associated parts turned down and the length-fixing parts separated.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section substantially on line 44 of Fig. 2, on a still larger scale.

Figure '5 is a section substantially on line 55 of Fig. 2, on the scale of Fig. 4.

Figure 6 is a section substantially on line am of Fig. 2, on the scale of Fig. 4.

Figure 7 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, of another embodiment of the invention.

Figure 8 is a perspective view of one adjustment part in Fig. 7.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of another adjustment part in Fig. 7.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a cap structure 10, which may have a stiffened partial brim portion illustrated as the visor 11. The crown is formed by sections 12, 13, 14, 15 of flexible fabric, joined by seams at the abutting edges and secured to the brim portion 11. A panel or packet 16 extends across the front, being bound at the lateral ends with the seams between sections 12, 13, and 14, 15: and also bound into the visor seam. A sheeps wool pad 17 may be attached to the panel 16.

At the rear, the flexible sections 13, 14 are free of the stiffened brim portion 11 and of one another from the rim upwardly to a point 18 and provide a radial slit so that the edges of the slit between the sections can be brought toward one another or separated for adjusting the cap to the wearers headsize. A flap 19 of generally triangular shape is secured (Figs. 2, 3 and 7) by a piped seam 26 to the section 14, and extends across the slit in the various conditions of adjustment, thereby avoiding a gap through which the wearers head or hair is visible, and serving also to prevent rain or dust from reaching the scalp.

The peripheral edges of the sections 12, 13, 14, 15 are turned inward and up, as shown in Figs. 2 5 and 6, and are connected to the sweat band 21, by stitching 22. This sweat band is continuous around the inside of the rim, except at the back in this illustrative form, where it has one end provided with a narrowed extension 23 for overlapping the other end in any adjusted condition of length. It is preferred to reinforce and stiffen this extension 23 by a like-shaped piece 24 (Figs. 37.) which is secured thereto as'by stitching 25 and has a widened portion likewise secured to the main portion of the sweat band 21. It is preferred to include a reinforcing tape 26 at the rim seam, held by the stitching 22. The other end of the sweat band, at the side adjacent the crown, has a loop piece 27 secured thereto at the upper and lower edges as by stitching 22, 28 so that a sleeve is provided within which the tongue 23, 24 may slide in telescoping fashion, thereby avoiding any gap or curling edge, and assuring comfort and proper fitting to the wearers head.

In the form of structure in Figs. 2-6, the rim adjacent 16 section 13 also includes a flexible strip 31 upon which are provided a plurality of male snap fastener elements 30 spaced along a line parallel to the rim. This strip 31 may be secured by stitchings 32, 22. The flap 19 has a female snap fastener element 29 cooperative with any of the elements 3%. Illustratively the elements 3t may be so spaced that a shift of the element .29 from one element Stl to the next represents an adjustment.

As examples of employment, the illustrative four elements 30 may beso spaced on strips 3i, and these strips assembled in caps having different inner and sweat band lengths to provide two stock sizes, one of which can be adjusted to small cap sizes of 6%, 6%, 67s and 7, and the other to medium cap sizes ,of 7 /8, 7%, 7%, and 7 /2. Therewith only two sizes of headgear need be made or stocked for fitting heads of any such size. At the time of purchase or thereafter, a quick and simple adjustment may be made by releasing the elements 29, 30 and tentatively fitting to the wearers head, by permitting the tongue 23, 241cc slide within the sleeve provided by band 21 and loop 27. Upon removing from the h ead, the element 29 is engaged with an element 3ft,

e. g. with the adjacent element 3% nearer the tongue 23, 24 if a tight fit is desired or with the adjacent element 30 farther from the tongue 23, as if a looser fit is desired. The operation can be conducted, also, by turning the sweat band downwardly, from the position of Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 3, thereby exposing the parts to view, making a tentative adjustment, and then returning the sweat band and engaging an element 3% with the element 22.

In the position of Fig. 2, where the engagement has been shown to be with the element 3% second from the right, that is, for a hot size of 6% for a small cap or 7% for a medium cap, it will be noted that the flap 19 covers the slit between sections i3, i l: and that the tongue 23, 2d spans between the ends of the wide or main part of the sweat band. Thus there is a smooth sweat band fitting to the head. The band can be turned downward, to the position of Fig. 3, upon releasing the fastener elements 29, 3t), and hence the parts can be conveniently swept or cleaned. Even with the engagement of the element 29 with the left-hand element iii! in Figs. 2 and 3, the flap 19 covers the slit and conceals and protects the head; and the tongue 23, 24 spans between the ends of the wide part of the sweat band.

side of the slit: and the thicknesses for the adjustment parts at the other side.

In the embodiment of Figs. 7-9, the external appearance is as in Fig. 1. In place of the male-female glove or snap fasteners, a clamping device is provided for fixing the adjusted length. The flap 19 has connected into the seam, at the lower part of its free edge extending upward in the cap, a flexible loop 34 passing through an aperture of a clamp slide 33 having the hinged clamping lever 35. A guide strip 38 is secured to the inside of section 13, as by stitches 39 and by binding into the seam between sections 12, 13, and into the turned free edge of section 13 at the slit. This strip has thereon a flexible strap 37 with spaced secured wire loops 36. The illustrated curled edges of the slide 33 engage around the edges of strap 37, and permit relative sliding guided movement of the slide 33 along the strap 37 when the lever 35 is released (Fig. 8); but when the lever 35 is pressed down (Fig. 7), the parts are clamped in adjusted position, the loops 36 serving This structure can be adjusted by i to resist slippage. releasing the lever 35, making a fitting for the wearers head, and then depressing the lever 35.

In each form of the device, the parts can be made in quantity and assembled without difficulty; and the completed and assembled structure can be inspected, adjusted, readjusted, and cleaned without loss of any part. Externally, the appearance is neat; and internally it is comfortable and the adjustment parts are concealed and protected by the sweat band. Structurally, the telescoping parts of the sweat band, which is preferably as usual of a stifi? material, assures conformation: and the presence of the length-adjusting member on the flap assures maintenance of the flap in position.

The illustrated forms are not restrictive, and the invention can be practiced in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An adjustable cap or like structure having a flexible crown member with a slit at its rear extending up- 0 underlying the crown member at the opposite side of the slit, a flexible sweat band within and secured along the rim of the crown member so that the sweat band may be turned upwards inside the crown member, said sweat band having one end adjacent the slit and an extension at the other end of the sweat band projecting across the slit, a loop portion secured to the said one end of the sweat band and located between the sweat band and crown member when the latter is in upwardly turned position and effective for providing a sleeve in which said extension can slide between said crown member and the said one end of the sweat band, a first fastener piece secured to said fiap member, and a fastener structure including a plurality of second fastener pieces secured to the said crown member adjacent said other end of the sweat band for selective cooperation with said first fastener piece, the said first fastener piece and the said fastener structure being so located relative to the rim of the crown member that when. the sweat band is turned upward and inside of the crown member said first fastener piece and the fastener structure are positioned between the sweat band and the crown member, whereby the increased thicknesses of the loop and sweat band extension and of the fastener piece and fastener structure are located at opposite sides of the slit from one another.

2. A cap or like structure as in claim 1, in which the fastener structure includes a guide piece secured to the crown member, and the said first fastener piece includes a slide movable along the guide piece, and in which the first fastener piece includes a clamp for fixing the slide in position on the guide piece.

3. A cap or like structure as in claim 1, in which the said second fastener pieces comprise a plurality of male snap elements secured to the said crown member and spaced along a line substantially parallel to the rim, and the said first fastener piece is a female snap element secured to the flap member and cooperative with any of said male snap elements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

